Ethan to the Future
by Stretch Snodgrass
Summary: Ethan had a vision of his future for years to come . . . but promptly forgot exactly what his vision was. Benny suggests Ethan relive the vision with one of Benny's spells. Is that a good idea? Will the spell even work? A sequel to "The End of the Beginning." Reviews appreciated.
1. To See or Not To See

**To See or Not To See, That is the Question**

If you could see your entire future spread before your eyes, would you take a look? Would you dare? Are some things just better off unknown? Is it better for life to be a banquet of the unexpected? Or is it better for it to be as predictable as Friday's cafeteria menu?

The question bothered Ethan more than he had thought. Just a week ago, Ethan had shaken Erica's hand, sealing what he considered a fiendish bargain with the stubborn _Dusk_ fan. If Erica was willing to wait four years, Ethan would offer a pint of his valuable blood to the bloodsuckers just to make Erica one of them again. The alternative? Erica would have guilelessly offered herself up to be bitten by a vampire, and ended up being drained dry by the vengeful un-dead.

When Ethan shook Erica's hand, he had unwittingly had a glimpse of events extending far into the future. A vision that passed from his memory as rapidly as it came.

"Don't be a idiot, Ethan" Sarah told him, as Ethan walked her home from a movie. "Do you really want to see your life start to end? It'd be so boring. Look at me. It was only weeks ago I had a long, empty, cursed existence stretched out before me. Now my life is my own again. It's full of hope, the unexpected, and yes, even some fears. And, look, we've got each other and a _real_ relationship. Who knows where that's going to go?"

Ethan definitely had ideas, as they made out on Sarah's front doorstep. Until somebody, probably her father, starting blinking the house's pot lights on and off.

Yes, if Ethan had just Sarah to listen to, he probably would have forgotten about the vision in good time.

Even the ever-enthusiastic Rory was uninterested in a glance of the years to come.

"The Ror-ster wants to _live_ each day as it comes" Rory announced the last time Ethan brought it up. "No spoilers for me."

In fairness, though, Rory was preoccupied with other things. Rory had taken the sobering demonstration Benny and Ethan had gave of _just why_ being a vampire sucked very much to heart. Rory had been in a frenzy of "doing human stuff." This included but was not limited to eating as much garlic as possible.

"Ethan, dude" said Rory, at lunch one day to Ethan. "Look at this! Today's cafeteria special. Garlic butter on garlic toast. Garlic salad. Garlic pasta. And, from home, my mom packed me a couple of fresh cloves of garlic."

It was better than raw rat, or whatever else Rory had been catching as a vampire.

"Yeah, Rory" said Ethan, tolerantly. "It's great to be alive, buddy."

"I swear" said Benny, joining the two at the table, "the school is gonna _reek_ so bad this afternoon. Everybody's having the cafeteria special! Talk about bad breath."

"Yeah, if there were still any vampires in school, they'd be so dead" Ethan joked.

"I'd just like to see a bloodsucker try walking in here with all this garlic" laughed Rory. "Burn city."

Ethan and Benny stared at Rory incredulously.

"Guys, I'm just trying to get in the spirit!" Rory protested. "Beside _you know_ that the only good vampires in town were me, Sarah and Erica. Or, you know, I guess, good _considering_ we were cursed to be evil bloodsuckers."

"I'm not all that sure about Erica" observed Ethan frostily, remembering Erica's setting him up for "dinner" at a vampire restaurant.

"Yeah, well," said Rory, "now we're definitely humans again on the side of good. Or should I say we're Team Sabre. Like the Jedi fighting against the evil Sith, Team Sarah, Benny, Rory and Ethan fight against any creatures who would prey on the innocent denizens of Whitechapel!"

"That's a pretty cool way to put it" said Ethan, taking out his smart phone and typing it out.

"It'd make a awesome movie" said Benny, craftily. "Team Sabre battles through the years. One I'd pay to see."

Benny had been waiting for an opportunity like this. From his backpack, Benny pulled out the magic book his grandmother had given him. He turned to a page near the back.

"There's a spell here to recover and project repressed memories into a crystal ball" said Benny. "A couple of video and ethernet cables, and we can connect it and play your vision via your DVR and TV."

"You do that" said Rory dismissively, "just don't tell me how it goes."

"Look, I've talked to Sarah. I've even talked to Rory. And I've thought about it" said Ethan. "I'm not going to watch my life in advance."

"Dude" said Benny. "You were only out of it for half-a-minute. How much could you have seen."

"To me, it was like hours" Ethan retorted. "I remember that much. Besides, Benny, if it's nothing, why are you so interested in seeing what happens?"

Why? Benny couldn't believe that anybody would pass up a chance to see their future. Who's lucky enough to see what they'll be doing long before they're actually going to be doing it? Why wouldn't you want to see your future self and your future job? And your future chicks? It would be totally cool. Besides, you might just catch a glimpse of the future stock market and the future _Lotto Max_ winning numbers. Which would not only be cool but make Benny his fortune besides.

And if you didn't like the future? For an optimistic guy like Benny, that wasn't even a serious possibility. And Benny was desperate to see how awesome his future would be.

And Benny's friends would be praising Benny _to the hilt_ for having talked them into looking.

But Benny figured this _wasn't_ the approach to use on Ethan. No, Ethan could be a very practical guy. Benny had to pitch a hard-nosed reason for Ethan remembering his vision. Having known Sarah and Rory were against the idea, Benny knew that he had to make a really good pitch. Why Ethan _needed_ to see his future!

"Ethan" said Benny, "you usually have your seer visions _for a reason_. The sky queen? The yeti? Sarah and the vampires? Going into my grandma's mind? How can you _ignore_ that major vision you got from Erica? _All_ you say you remember is that you and me will never be bloodsuckers; and Sarah and Rory here won't be bloodsuckers again. But what else do we need to know from what you saw? _If we never know what it is, how can we prepare for it?_ I mean, just think. If the President of the Twelve Colonies knew ahead of time Count Baltar was a traitor, would he have fallen for that fake peace treaty with the Cylons?

Ethan mulled over the possibility. That is to say the possibility of Ethan _needing_ to see his vision. It was _obvious_ that the twelve colonies wouldn't have fallen to the Cylon ruse if everyone knew Baltar was a traitor.

Benny, seeing his plan start to work, thought to himself "He shoots! He scores!" But who should upset it, but . . . Rory?

"I don't know, man" said Rory, chewing one of his garlic cloves. "You think you forgot most of your vision because _you were supposed to_? Because you didn't need to know it yet?"

"That adds up" said Ethan. "I mean, I haven't really forgotten before."

"Do you want to bet on _that_ theory?" said Benny, putting as much disbelief in his voice as he could manage without sounding too corny.

Benny had prepared a Plan B. He flipped to another page of his magic book.

"This is a memory spell" said Benny, finger on the page. "If _we're not supposed to know_ , I can cast a memory spell on us so we'll forget again."

"How will we know if we're not supposed to know?" asked Ethan.

"We'll know _if after we know_ we figure we're better off not knowing" replied Benny.

" _Huh_?" said Rory. Rory had to repeat the phrase several times to himself, and concentrate his usually scatter-brained and overeager mind, to figure out that Benny meant they'd only know _after_ they saw it.

Ethan, for his part, understood what Benny meant right away. And it was a good argument! Wasn't it Ethan's responsibility to use his visions? And if Ethan didn't want to remember his vision, Benny's memory spell would pretty much wipe it from his mind. After all, Benny had once used the memory spell on Vice Principal Stern to prevent Sarah from being expelled. It was one of those spells Benny actually knew how to work.

So, looking into the future was no risk and all reward.

"Yeah, yeah I guess so." said Ethan. "Tonight my parents have their date night. Might as well try it."

"Have fun guys" said Rory, unenthusiastically.

"Man, you've got to come" said Benny. "The more the merrier? Don't you want to see your future? Uh, um, I mean, you know, _to be prepared_."

Rory made a face. Rory's life had been totally ruined two years ago just by going to one dumb vampire party. And being changed into _one of them_. Fortunately, for two years, no one had ever explained to him _exactly what being a vampire meant_. Well, Rory had been given Jesse's brainwashing spiel at the party . . . but until Rory was (accidentally) cured no one had told Rory the whole picture.

"Dudes, I don't want to ruin my life . . . again."

"There's no risk" said Ethan.

"Look, buddy" said Benny. "We're your best friends. We wouldn't willingly let you wreck your life. We tried to save you, remember? And, we sort of, eventually, did."

They were Rory's best friends. And they were _only_ looking into the future.

"I guess, guys" said Rory. "I mean, what could go wrong?"

 **Author's Note**

 _I appreciate the reviews I've received for "The End of the Beginning"._

 _I didn't originally intend to write a sequel/continuation - but I've been happy to extend the story as per my reviewers' requests._


	2. The Setup

**The Setup**

Sarah felt differently than Rory. There was no convincing her. And Sarah was all the angrier that neither Ethan nor Benny had told her what was up. That is, until she arrived that night to babysit Ethan's little sister Jane.

"This had got to be one of the stupidest things you've ever done" she told Ethan angrily that evening. "You and your nerd entourage can look _way_ into the future if you want. Just remember not to tell me _anything_ about it. Did you ever consider that memories get repressed for a reason? _Just remember_ you're relying on _Benny's skill with magic_ not to end up destroying your entire life."

"Okay" said Ethan. "We'll keep the TV down so you and Jane won't hear a thing."

"No" said Sarah. "We're going next door to Benny's grandmother to _make sure_ we don't hear a thing. Okay, Jane."

Jane stuck out her tongue at Ethan as she followed Sarah to the door.

"How about a kiss goodbye?" Ethan asked Sarah imploringly.

"Ew" said Jane.

"When you smarten up again!" said Sarah. "Ethan, you're a geek. Act like one!"

Rory opened the door and nearly walked into Sarah.

"Whazzzzzzzzz up?" he asked.

"Don't you knock?" Sarah retorted.

"I can go into a house again without standing outside, waiting to be formally invited" Rory said. "It's awesome. I like to make the most of it. Want a garlic clove?"

"Just be sure you don't regret going along with Benny's big brainstorm" said Sarah. "And, yes, I'll have a garlic clove, thanks."

Sarah wasn't a fan of raw garlic. But the fact that she _could_ eat it made all the difference.

After Sarah and Jane had left, Benny, Ethan and Rory put together their strange audio-visual-magical experiment. Within a half an hour's time, they had a crystal ball connected to what looked like car booster cables. The booster cables were connected in turn to AVI cables. Those in turn fed into an HDMI up-converter. The up-converter fed into a DVR which, finally, attached to Ethan's living room television set.

To make things complete, Rory had popped an enormous amount of popcorn smeared with garlic butter.

"I might as well enjoy myself, guys" Rory said as he stuffed popcorn in his mouth.

Ethan, as the test subject, didn't feel at all like eating the garlic butter popcorn. The whole thing looked like a major electrocution hazard; though, of course, Ethan wouldn't be physically wired to the crystal ball.

"Look, Benny" said Ethan, "if this is so safe, why don't you take first crack at it. Let's see one of your repressed memories."

"Yeah" Rory seconded.

Rory thought that he might have some fun after all!

Benny, on the other hand, was convinced that he'd be "enjoying" repressed memories of Zombie Benny trying to eat Ethan's brains. Or maybe Evil Benny under the power of Vice Principal Stern trying to kill Ethan, Sarah and Jesse. Well, Jesse he wouldn't have minded killing; and, of course, the way Jesse finally died was more horrible than Benny would ever have thought possible.

"Dudes, I'm not a seer" Benny objected, "all you'll see is some really boring things from the past that I can't be bothered to remember. Besides, you'll need me to run the spell! Maybe Rory's game?"

Rory almost choked on his popcorn. No way was he going to relive his vampire days! That was one thing he wasn't cool with. Even if it was a memory of him flying through the air like an aeroplane. Sure, Rory had never killed a _person_ , but two years of being an evil cursed bloodsucker was enough.

"No thanks dudes" he said. "I'm good."

Ethan and Benny both understood.

"Maybe if I try to see what'll happen?" suggested Ethan.

Ethan disconnected the booster cables from the crystal ball, and put his hand on the chunk of glass to try and get a vision. It worked. Ethan had a perfectly monotonous view of Ethan staring off into space while sitting on the sofa. Benny and Rory sat on either side of him. They were watching the screen and eating garlic butter popcorn.

Ethan didn't like how he looked staring vacantly staring into space. But Ethan figured that if he was _really_ in trouble his friends wouldn't be just sitting there eating popcorn. But was that really how Ethan looked like when he was doing his seer thing? Dilated pupils and gleaming eyeballs? Man! That was creepy!

Ethan shrugged, and reconnected the booster cables.

"I guess we're good to go" Ethan said. "But, I swear, Benny, you'd better make sure you have me remember the right repressed memory. I don't want to relive my night as Werewolf Ethan."

"No problemo" said Benny. "It's like I was a Jedi knight using the force to read your mind.

"That's supposed to make me feel better?" Ethan retorted.

"Relax, Ethan. All I've got to do is hypnotize you, tell you what to think about, then use the memory-projection spell."

"How are you going to hypnotize me?" said Ethan. "You've got no idea how it's done."

"With this baby here" said Benny, pulling an old-fashioned pocket watch and fob chain out of his pocket. "This was my great-grandfather's. He was a conductor on the CPR."

Benny slowly began swinging the watch to and fro.

"So you're going to wave it in front of me, say "you're getting sleepy, your eyes are getting heavy" and _expect me_ to be hypnotized?" scoffed Ethan. "You _actually_ think that'll work?"

Ethan was unimpressed, but Rory was already gazing back and forth as if he were in the stands at Wimbledon.

" _No_ ", Benny admitted sheepishly. "But with magic, I can make it work."

"So you're going to put two spells on me!" said Ethan angrily. "When were you going to tell me _that_! _"_

"Now" Benny admitted, again rather shamefacedly. "Come on buddy, it's nothing! And this spell, I've actually practiced!"

On whom, or what, Ethan didn't know and didn't ask. But, in reality, Benny had been getting good at getting cats to bark like dogs and dogs to meow like cats. Until the hypnosis wore off that was. And it turned out that dogs made to meow like cats and cats made to meow like dogs weren't in the best possible temper.

"Alright man" said Ethan resignedly. "Get it over with."

"Dude, Rory, look away" warned Benny. "And plug your ears."

Rory complied.

"Okay, Ethan. Watch the watch. You're getting sleepy. You're getting sleepy. Your eyelids are getting heavy. _Ethan sleepem nummow_."

And with that, Ethan was out like a light. Ethan didn't see anything else until Benny used his next spell, and Erica's future passed before Ethan's eyes.


	3. Ethan to the Future

**Ethan to the Future**

Actually, it was inaccurate to say that Erica's future passed before Ethan's eyes. It was more like Ethan fell mind and body into scenes of Erica's life-yet-to-come. Falling none too comfortably neither.

"Frack" Ethan groaned.

The time-travelling Ethan had landed painfully spraddled on a metal stool. He was near the counter of a carefully bleached clean laboratory. And there were those two bloodsucking nurses. The two who ran the fraudulent blood-drive to feed their leechlike nutritional needs.

Ethan had forgotten how _hot_ those nurses were. There was no mystery in how they got a donation from every non-hemophiliac boy at Whitechapel High! No wonder why no one ever questioned how they came to collect blood when they weren't affiliated with _Canada Blood Services_!

Could Rory and Benny see the vampires back on the television screen? Benny and Ethan had already concluded the answer was _yes_. Memory was a different process than television or photographs. But once you tried to _record_ the memory on DVR? Benny guessed that the bloodsucker's curse would fall into play and obscure their images.

Ethan's mind now wandered to Bram Stoker's novel, _Dracula_ , and the vampire count's three brides. How Jonathan Harker had, half-asleep and upon first seeing them, longed that they would "kiss" him. Yeah, Ethan could see why. In a weak moment, he would too could have fallen willing prey to a bloodsucker.

It was obviously only a few years from now. And here came Erica, beaming as she approached the sinister, yet beautiful, vampire nurses. Erica carried with her a pint full of Ethan's invaluable blood. So tasty that one of those nurses had once told Ethan it _alone_ was worth all the rest of the blood in their bloodmobile.

The nurses were smiling a vicious fanged smile.

"A deal's a deal" said the elder of the two nurses. "You didn't really have to bring _those_."

"Never trust a bloodsucker" said Future Benny. "Well, if you're not friends with them."

The older, taller versions of Ethan and Benny were armed to the teeth. They wore their light sabres in scabbards on their side. They had holy water supersoakers. And utility jackets crammed with odds and ends. Benny also had his spell book, with plenty of post-it-notes inserted for quick reference.

"I'm surprised you're letting her go through with this" said the younger-looking of the two nurses.

"A deal's a deal" repeated Future Ethan, without enthusiasm.

"Buddy, I still feel like Count Baltar" groaned Benny.

"Ignore those geeks" said Erica. "Don't let them spoil my moment."

Besides the sickening fact Erica wouldn't be smartening up, the time-travelling Ethan noticed one other thing. Neither Sarah nor Rory were anywhere in sight. Ethan wondered, and worried, for a moment why they weren't there. Then it hit him.

Sarah and Rory had once been changed into vampires. It would have been extremely painful for them to so much as witness it again. Ethan remembered, with a flinch, his experience being bitten and almost turned into a vampire fledgling. Future Benny and Future Ethan probably volunteered to fulfill their sickening promise to Erica, themselves.

Ethan wondered what Rory was thinking as he took in the scene back in the Morgan living room.

"Are you crazy! This is your last chance to smarten up, Erica!" the time-travelling Ethan yelled in desperation.

But it was a memory. Nobody could see or hear the younger Ethan. Though they could bump into him. A fidgeting Benny knocked the time-travelling and invisible Ethan off his stool and onto the metal floor.

"Welcome, Erica, to the rest of your life" said the elder nurse.

The nurse bit Erica on the wrist. Erica swooned, and writhed in pain on the floor. Much as Ethan had remembered from his experience being bitten by Jesse. The room disappeared and Ethan fell through the darkness, a sickening feeling deep in his stomach.


	4. The Ridiculous Reading Week Roundup

**The Ridiculous Reading Week Roundup**

Now Ethan landed hard on the asphalt of a large parking lot.

"I really hate this!" Ethan said to himself, as he painfully picked himself up and brushed off the dirt.

Ethan had landed near a really cool Chevy Camaro. Whose car was that? Could it be his. That awesome red Ford Mustang? Or was it that Dodge Charger SXT next to it? Or that way cool Jeep Sahara?

"I can't believe you're bailing out on me" said the revamped Erica. "I made a _big sacrifice_ to spend Reading Week traveling to Florida with your nerd friends."

"One of whom happens to be my boyfriend" Sarah reminded her, "Ethan."

The twenty-two-year-old Sarah was _hot_.

"I don't really hate this" Ethan observed smugly, though no one _he could see_ could hear him.

"Well, I have to go back to Whitechapel" said Sarah.

"Benny's grandmother begged you to return to Whitechapel to deal with _unicorns_ " scoffed Erica. "I'm telling you, when _my_ kind recolonise Whitechapel . . . ."

"Well, those unicorns are goring people left and right" said Sarah, "sooner or later someone's going to be killed."

"Hey, Sarah" said the future Ethan. "Are you okay?"

"Hold your horses" said Sarah.

Ethan watched Future Ethan get out of a car. Ah, frack! Future Ethan was a _passenger_ in a rusted out _Hyundai_. Dressed like . . . a cowboy?

But, no wait, this was better! Future Ethan apologized to Erica about having to travel home for their monster-hunting obligations in Whitechapel. And then he kissed Sarah, right in front of Erica without much blushing. Yeah!

Erica and the time-travelling Ethan went to the car to look in the windows.

It must have been Benny's car, because Benny was behind the wheel. In a cowboy outfit, complete with ten gallon hat.

"You three geeks will never be cool" Erica said scornfully.

"That's what the Ouija board told us" scoffed Benny. "But I don't see it."

"How can you miss partying in Florida?"

"Reluctantly" admitted Benny.

"Yeah, buddy" said Rory. "We're missing all those bikini clad babes on the beach."

"Which is why you're dressed to go to a roundup" scoffed Erica.

"Hey" said Rory, who, as Erica suggested, was also in a cowboy outfit "that's what we're doin' pard'ners. Those ornery unicorns are worse than a herd o' mad steers running through town. That's why we's got to mosy over to Whitechapel and drive them out!"

"You do that" Erica retorted

"Dudes, who but me has a car that's _so cool_ it can only be started with _magic_?" Benny interrupted.

Benny jump started the car by doing some sort of trick that lighted up the key as he turned the old-style ignition.

Rory nodded agreement, but he was the only one impressed.

"A cool car starts the normal way" Sarah replied sarcastically. "With the ignition button or the key."

"Buddy, Sarah's right" said Ethan, "this rust-trap is a beater."

"Don't listen to them, baby" said Benny to his car. "They're just jealous."

"Jealous of how you get this car to pass highway inspection" said Sarah.


	5. The Best Day of His Life

**The Best Day of His Life**

The time-traveling Ethan suddenly found himself tumbling through the car window, and downwards though blank space before landing with a splash in a swimming pool. Ethan was a lousy swimmer, so it was with a lot of splashing he made it to the side of the pool and pulled himself up. All dripping wet.

Ethan looked around.

Ethan was at some sort of party, held in the backyard of a large split-level house with a white picket fence. The house still sported a "SOLD" sign in front. Looking behind him, he saw a huge wedding cake. Ethan wondered who Erica was marrying. Did bloodsuckers even celebrate weddings?

Ethan was near the dessert table. The food looked good. It smelt good. He hoped, he desperately hoped, that this stuff wasn't cooked with blood. Well, from what Ethan knew about bloodsuckers, they had their blood raw. They didn't bake it into pastries. So Ethan risked some cake and was relieved to find it, and everything else, was rather normal.

Rather but not completely normal. To Ethan's amazement, everything that he took from the table was immediately replaced by an exact duplicate. Ethan guessed that not being able to be seen or heard also meant he couldn't affect the scene around him.

Having eaten his fill (and dried off), Ethan wandered over to the clavering wedding party, readying to have their pictures taken. Well, Benny was there with a date. That was amazing, although she was none too good looking. Rory was also there, with an _really_ attractive petite blonde, which was almost miraculous. Ethan's friends had to be about their mid-twenties by now. Erica was off to the side, stuck forever at twenty-one, and wearing a real ugly red bridesmaid dress. She must have been dodging the cameras. Probably was claiming she was camera-shy, or something stupid like that.

A realization broke on Ethan. If Erica was maid of honour, well then Sarah would be the one getting married. That whole BFF thing!

Time suddenly sped ahead at warp speed. Everybody moved around quickly getting into place. Yeah, Yeah, YEAH! SCORE! There was Ethan as the bridegroom, and Sarah in full bridal outfit. Benny had left his date behind to take his stand as best man. And Ethan saw his proud parents in the front row. And his baby sister, who had grown up into a fine young woman.

Ethan was annoyed to see his sister was dating some jerk who didn't bother wearing a tux to her brother's formal wedding. Not that Ethan usually cared much about clothes, _but_ Jane was way too good for that guy!

However, Ethan was downright angry when he saw Erica crying.

Ethan again remembered how Erica had wanted him on the menu at the vampire restaurant. How Erica thought Sarah shouldn't have been allowed to date Ethan when Sarah had been unwillingly a vampire. Ethan stopped listening to the minister's service and sauntered up and mocked the oblivious Future Erica.

"Yeah, you would cry!" the invisible young Ethan sneered to bloodsucking bridesmaid Erica. "You never wanted us together! You . . . wait . . . you're actually happy for Sarah, aren't you? You're . . . jealous?"

Again, the pain in Ethan's stomach. Again, the scene faded. And now Ethan fell through space for what seemed like a long, long, time.


	6. Team Sabre

**Team Sabre  
**

Ethan landed, comfortably for once, in a tony armchair in a luxurious reception area. Well, comfortably, if it wasn't for that weird feeling in his stomach.

"This is so cool" said Ethan, as he realized where he was. "Team Sabre, Architectural and Engineering Consultants."

It turned out Ethan, Sarah, Benny and Rory had gone into business together. A real, solid, scientific business like engineering and architecture. That was a relief from all the monster hunting and see-er stuff Ethan would have to deal with on-and-off through the years.

Well, honestly, Ethan would have thought or maybe have preferred he'd have done something more along the lines of computer or video game programming. But this was awesome too!

Ethan looked around admiring the illustrations of the bridges and buildings the firm had built. Some were really traditional and plain, some were the sort of cool buildings Ethan would have dreamt of building. Way'd it use his skills as a mathlete!

Ethan stopped in his tracks at some really weird building that had received some sort of engineering and architectural reward. The building was a football shaped gas-station, balancing an inverted-pyramid shaped parking garage, topped off by a ten story art deco hotel. Benny and Rory were credited as head engineer and architect.

Ethan hated it. The two must have used magic to make it work. No way a building like that could exist _naturally_. What was the point of being a structural engineer if you were going to cheat?

Ethan gave a big sigh of relief when he saw the next picture and an accompanying newspaper article.

Ethan and Sarah had been in charge of alterations to the original building. And won yet another award for the firm. They added a bunch of Ionic Columns, everywhere, as supports. Seemed as if no one had wanted to stay in the hotel because no one could figure out how it stood up without toppling over.

There were also pictures of the firm partners here. Wait? Was that Rory in old school pilot gear, with a _biplane_ behind him? Rory had a _pilot's license_? Ethan had the feeling Benny must have used his spell-master powers to ensure Rory _couldn't_ crash.

Ethan walked into the Team Sabre boardroom. There were the future partners talking through a window in front of him.

Ethan didn't know what year it was, but he supposed the gang was now ancient. Maybe even as old his parents. But it was hard to tell. They were in that nowhere land, age-wise, between twenty-five and forty-five.

Sarah was still very hot. She hadn't gained weight. She hadn't any grey hair.

Neither Ethan nor his friends had lost their hair . . . although, on a second look, the black of Benny's hair looked, well, different.

"The dude must be colouring his hair" said Ethan, entertained.

Rory looked the youngest of the lot, but his eyes were bloodshot and there were heavy bags underneath.

For a second, Ethan grimaced, wondering if Rory had gotten himself turned into a vampire again. Ethan breathed a sigh of relief. Ethan hadn't been looked at Team Sabre. He was looking at their reflection in the mirror.

Ethan spun around.

Erica, ever young and hot in a mink coat, was taking the future gang's picture with what looked like a real expensive futuristic camera. Well, that made sense. Erica couldn't be in the photograph anyways. Sarah, for her part was seated in the middle, by a birthday cake with a large number forty.

Team Sabre posed. With the flash, Ethan was out of the office and seated in a comfortable living room.


	7. The Broken Contract

**The Broken Contract**

Sarah and Erica were talking and giggling over old times. The time-traveling Ethan was busy looking at his family pictures. Ah, frack. His little sister married the slob who couldn't be bothered to wear a tux. Ethan's parents were happy with their grandchildren. Ethan and Sarah had four kids. Three girls and a boy. They must have been going for one of each, as the boy was the youngest.

"Too bad there's no one around to congratulate me" Ethan complained.

Ethan was brought out of his thoughts by some words from Erica.

"This is your last chance, Sarah" Erica observed. "So far, your life has been good. After forty, it's a steep slope downhill for a mortal. And you don't want immortality when you're old, fat and ugly."

"I don't want immortality at all" Sarah retorted. "Especially not the . . . sorry . . . _cursed_ kind you get by being a vampire. FYI, I intend to put off the old, fat and ugly part as long as possible. But when it happens, and I'm betting the fat part _never will_ , old age is part of life. Being old with a loving husband, children, surrounded by grandchildren, retired from a successful career? What more can a girl ask for when the time comes?"

"The _autumn_ of life is so overrated. You can have your grandkids and be hot at the same time. Remember _Dusk_. Forever hot?"

"We've always been BFF's Erica" said Sarah. "Respect my decision. I've learned to accept yours."

"I can't respect the idea of being old and dying" scoffed Erica.

"And I can't respect the idea of wanting to be a bloodsucker" Sarah retorted.

"Forget it" said Erica, before forcing a smile. "BFF's, Sarah. Always."

Ethan gave the Future Erica a death glare. If he could, Ethan would have shot laser beams out of his eyes at that lying leech. Part of the deal for "facilitating" Erica's return to the ranks of the un-dead was her promise not to bite or feed on _anyone_ in Whitechapel. Nor was Erica to cajole, arrange, encourage, or cause either Sarah or Rory to become a vampire again.

"Frack, Erica" said Ethan, the sickening feeling in his stomach making him want to puke. "We're trusting you to keep your promise. Well, if you're not . . . man, really!"

This time Ethan landed hanging upside down, feet jammed in the railing atop the portico in front of a sombre stone mansion that Ethan intuitively knew belonged to Benny. Not Benny's style to have a really sedate house! Maybe it was his wife's taste? Ethan hoped that Benny, at least, would have had it built full of secret rooms and passages.

Ethan looked about, upside down though he was. Erica was on the porch, speaking to Benny and his wife. They weren't letting her in.

"It's late, Erica" said Benny's wife sweetly. "Our kids need to go to sleep. Why don't you come back tomorrow?"

"Benny's wife sure doesn't have much going for her" Ethan muttered to himself, though upside-down he didn't have a good view. "As long as she's nice, I mean beauty is skin . . . ."

"It's eight o'clock" said Erica angrily. "And in a house like this, your kids are tucked away upstairs and out of earshot. Don't try to fool me, Benny. I know why you aren't letting me in."

"You know, I've learned something over the years" said Benny. "It's called a white lie. Sometimes it's better to lie not to insult someone with the truth."

"There was a time you'd invite me in, and darn the consequences" Erica said.

"Yeah, well, times change" said Benny.

"Yes" said Erica, "geek though you always were, you had the sense to listen to a hot girl . . . if she'd speak to you, that is. Now you're taking the advice of your hag of a wife."

With that, Erica and the time-traveling Ethan found themselves blown away from Benny's house as if by a hurricane.

This time Ethan landed in a flowerbed by a large house in the country. There was an old red barn with a shiny red biplane inside. There was a large new garage off to the side.

The yard itself was full of garden figures of characters from many of the sci-fi shows Ethan was familiar with. Not to mention many of the other shows Ethan knew that Rory liked to watch as well.

Erica rang the doorbell. Rory answered it, looking worn out but a little more cheerful than he was that morning.

"Can I come in, Rory?"

"Sure" said Rory, without hesitation. "What are old friends for? I always hated that part about waiting outside for someone to _explicitly_ let you in. Man, I remember how I burnt my hands that first day as a bloodsucker . . . ."

"Vampire is the right term" Erica interrupted masterfully.

"You know about Natalie" Rory went on. "I told you this morning. She's upstairs sleeping. I mean, my wife's mom, it's not the best thing to have her here all the time, but she takes care of her. The doc didn't know before, but now they think she'll eventually recover. Natalie that is. Thanks to the doctors and Ethan. Man, trust a seer to catch cancer right away."

To make a long story short, Rory's wife was in the middle of a long and tough battle with cancer. That explained Rory's haggard look. Worrying.

This made the time-travelling Ethan give a low whistle. Rory and worry were usually strangers.

Rory introduced Erica to his son, Rory Junior natch. The kid looked like Rory did at ten. With the same mentality. In spite of the family's troubles, the two gave Erica the grand tour of most of the house. Like Ethan expected, this house _was_ full of secret passages and more than a couple secret rooms. Some were cool, some were just weird. Why Rory thought it was a good idea to have a secret passage from the butler's pantry to the bathroom Ethan didn't know. And Ethan was perplexed by the fact that the closet in the laundry room led to another _secret_ laundry room in behind.

After Rory Junior was sent to bed, Erica got down to business.

"Don't let her talk you into it Rory!" said Ethan. "Tell her to go!"

"You look good for nearly forty" said Erica.

"You should have seen the Ror-ster a couple years ago" said Rory. "Folks used to say I could have passed for twenty. I thought it was because of the all the garlic I ate. It's supposed to be good for aging. But I like what Natalie said. She said I looked young because I was young at heart."

"It wasn't that you were young at heart" said Erica. " It was due to your time on Team V, as you used to call it."

"Team V" said Rory, with a wry grin. "That takes me back."

"Rory, you're an idiot!" Ethan commented. "Can't you see what she'd trying to do?"

"Nah, but my looking young had nothing to do with Team V" Rory went on. "Once the whole vampire thing was gone, it was gone."

"Yes" said Erica. "And I lost my closest immortal friends.

"Yeah, being an un-dead bloodsucker is pretty lonely!" Ethan observed.

"Sarah's your BFF" said Rory. "And as long as I live, you can count on me as a pal. And my buddies Ethan and Benny'll be there if you need them."

Erica made a sour face.

"That isn't the same!" Erica said, "Not like having someone your own age to talk to, converse with through the centuries, enjoy your immortality with. You're the only one my age I know who ever realized the eternal _fun_ you could have as a vampire."

"Nuh-uh" said Rory firmly. "It's not worth it"

"You also know the price of mortality" said Erica. "Pain and death. If you had read _Dusk_ you'd have realized it decades ago. You know, I can change your wife, too. Us three. Unending youth and fun through the centuries. How long will she suffer in bed? Through radiation? Chemo? And even then she'll be a shell of herself. But _my way_? Instant cure. Natalie and you will be together, forever. And maybe even your son, that is when you want him to stop aging!

Think about it, Rory. Think about it. You're almost forty now. Haven't the first pangs of arthritis kicked in when you're flying your plane around on a cold damp day? Don't you drive, or doesn't your car ever drive you, past a high school sometimes and you wish you were as young and carefree as those kids. Don't waste your chance to regain your lost, carefree youth."

Through this little speech, Rory had sat wide-eyed. Ethan saw Rory's will, weakened by his late troubles, downright withering under Erica's assault.

And there was Erica, drawing her fangs, leaning closer while the future Rory was spaced out deep in thought and lost in imagination.

"Nuh-uh" gasped Rory, just in time as he leaned back to dodge Erica's fangs. "It's a life of blood, and murder, and rats! It's like being one of those _Jurassic Park_ mosquitoes preserved in amber. Frozen in time. While everyone else's life goes on! I'll take mortality any day over an un-death like that!"

"Too late, Rory" said Erica. "Remember, it'll only take one bite! And I'm going through with it. Don't worry. I'm sure you'll feel better about it in a couple days. Sarah's my BFF. I have to listen to what she tells me. But you? You'll enjoy having your fangs back. I can just see you baring them again!"

Rory tried to run, but Erica was too strong and too fast. The time-travelling Ethan couldn't do anything as Erica pinned Rory against a wall.

At the last second, Erica was again blown away by one of Benny's magic spells.

"Sorry we're late" said the older Ethan.

"You know the saying" said the older Benny. "The dead travel fast. But we had to drive."

"How could you Erica?" asked Sarah furiously.

"Try to do someone a favour" hissed Erica, as she picked herself up.

"Dudes, did she bite me?" asked Rory.

He rushed to the mirror and looked fearfully about his neck.

"Buddy, you still have a normal reflection" said Future Ethan. "And you're not passed out on the floor. So the answer's no."

"I don't ever want to see her again" said Rory, as he continued to frantically examine his neck. "She promised. She promised! She's a . . . she's a . . . bloodsucking liar!"

"Don't pick on either my family or my friends!" Sarah told Erica, waving a finger at her. "Just because we're BFF's doesn't give you the right to turn them into vampires."

"You made a promise to us" the elder Ethan noted.

"Yeah!" said the time-travelling Ethan.

"I know when I'm not wanted" Erica replied furiously.

The vampiress flung open the front door and flew swiftly off into the night.

The time-travelling Ethan realized that was the last time he'd see her so long as he lived. And that would be Sarah's last time seeing her friend as well; though Sarah would try to keep the BFF pledge alive by exchanging emails with Erica every now and again.


	8. The White Chapel

**The White Chapel**

Ethan now fell through a cold, dank fog for a long, long time. He was eventually surrounded by clocks. Clocks to the left and right. Grandfather clocks, Dutch clocks, alarm clocks, and cuckoo clocks, all wildly turning. Ethan had these strange, esoteric visions before. But he had never been literally immersed in one.

Finally, Ethan fell with a crash on the cold, snow covered ground. That awful feeling in the pit of his stomach was at an all time high. At first, Ethan had believed the feeling came about because he was sickened by Erica's future decisions. Now he knew the truth. Ethan felt he _really_ shouldn't be here. And the further he went through the future, the worse the feeling.

Ethan was cold, and the tolling of the bell above the distant church made him feel all the colder. It was obvious where he was. The churchyard of the white chapel that gave Whitechapel its name. The white chapel that had replaced Black's Church, the home of the bloodsucking cult led by the unholy Reverend Black aka Jesse. And Ethan remembered well how he and Benny watched in the shadows as Jesse dug up the _cubile animus_ with his vampire gang.

Ethan was in a section of the cemetery somewhat distant from the old church, amongst gravestones that had only been placed about eighty years into the future. Eighty years!

And here came the preternaturally young Erica, walking alongside a very old man in a sort of hovering wheelchair. That chair was cool, sort of. Ethan wondered how it worked. Air compression? Some anti-magnetic device?

The style of clothes was pretty weird this far in the future. And real disappointing! You'd think people would have some sort of cool future clothes? But it looked more like what people wore when Benny's grandmother was a girl. The old man with a black trench coat and broad-rimmed fedora. Erica had on what Ethan guessed was a mink coat over what probably was an expensive dress.

The old man had black hair and looked familiar. Was it Ethan? No. It was Benny. Benny's voice still sounded much the same, just somewhat raspier and slightly strained with age.

"Why weren't you here for the funeral?" he asked of Erica. "You know _the dead travel fast_."

"I was at Ayer's Rock in Australia."

"In the desert?"

"With a sunhat, sunglasses and sun-screen it's nothing" said Erica dismissively. "But it's still no place to fly in daylight. And even at night, vampires can't fly solo round the world. You only sent me the notice two days before the funeral. Do you realize how few supersonic flights there are between Australia and Canada?"

"I was the only one alive _who'd think_ to give _you_ notice" said Benny. "You haven't been in Whitechapel for the past sixty years."

"The only one alive?" repeated the time-travelling Ethan, with a bit of a start.

Ethan didn't expect to have to see _this._ But it _was_ over _eighty years_ into the future. Ethan felt worn out just thinking about it! He really didn't want to look! Frack!

"There was nothing in Whitechapel for me" said Erica plaintively. "You, Ethan and even Sarah made that abundantly clear the night I tried to return Rory to the ranks of the immortals. And, of course, since the lucifractor exploded there have been very few vampires who've tried to establish themselves in Whitechapel. And of the few who did, your Team Sabre either killed them or drove them out of town."

"There's a good reason why we were so hard on bloodsu . . . vampires through the years" said Benny. "Vampires usually like to _kill_ people for their blood. Including the ones who've tried to "establish" a presence here. Ethan used to keep tabs of Whitechapel's missing person list with a graph. Once the vampires were gone, barely anybody disappeared due to supernatural causes. And of those who did, most we were able to rescue safe and sound."

"I'm sure you were very proud of yourselves" Erica replied, in a tone so odd Ethan couldn't determine if it was meant to be sarcastic or sincere.

Erica and Benny began walking (and hovering) through the cemetery.

Ethan grimly and invisibly followed. He _knew_ where this was heading. It was long into the future, but it still hurt. When Ethan agreed to revisit his seer vision, he didn't think he'd be playing the part of Ebenezer Scrooge to Benny's role as a talkative version of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.

"Of course, you know, Rory was the first of the team to pass away" said Benny, pointing to one side of a double headstone. "He was the same as he always was. He took the news of his dying like Peter Pan. "To die would be an awfully big adventure." And he was grateful to have Natalie by his bedside, though it turned out she only outlived him by a year. And would you look at the inscription, Erica! After the night Ethan and I explained to him _what being a vampire meant_ , he never had any regrets."

Ethan looked at the epitaph. Below the surname, letter-for-letter, the epigraph read "Here lie the MORTAL remains of RORY, beloved HUSBAND, FATHER and GRANDFATHER. Known as THE RORSTER to his Friends.

Rory had lived to be just over ninety. And had a full and happy life to boot.

Well, Ethan just hoped that the sight of his grave wouldn't convince the present Rory to go back to longing for a cursed bloodsucking immortality.

Next on that graveyard tour was the headstone of Benny's late wife, Mary. She had died only a couple years before, a beloved "wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother."

"I never knew what you saw in her" said Erica bluntly. "I never knew why Sarah always defended her in her messages."

"Mary" said Benny, "had an older sister. Like you, her older sister was a big fan of _Dusk_."

"Well, her older sister had good taste" was Erica's terse response.

"Her older sister was one of Jesse's victims at the _Westdale Cinema_ , the night of the big _Dusk_ premier" Benny continued grimly. "Years later, it was my spell-master ability that saved Mary from being a snack for one of those _bloodsuckers_ that tried to "establish" themselves in Whitechapel. I saved Mary's life, we grew close, we fell in love."

"How nice for you" said Erica, again in such a deadpan tone that made Ethan unsure whether it was meant to be kind or critical.

"You misjudge her" said Benny, looking at the gravestone of his late wife. "Sarah wasn't Mary's BFF, but they were good friends considering how very different they were. And, of course, Sarah admitted to Mary that she had once been a vampire. And Mary didn't take much note of it."

"Rory was part of Jesse's entourage the night of the _Dusk_ premier" Erica interjected. "Though I don't remember him being of any use."

"Rory apologized to Mary for his role, when he found out how her sister died" said Benny. "Well, _unlike yours_ , Rory's was really a non-role. Anyway, I was there when Rory begged forgiveness on hands and knees and all. Mary took a year, but given Rory's circumstances, she did forgive him."

"In her way" said Erica cooly, "I'm sure Mary was kind and generous."

Ethan noticed that Future Benny gazed thoughtfully at the as-yet uncarved portion of the double headstone. What was the old man thinking as he gazed at his future grave?

Well, now it was the time-travelling Ethan's turn to see his own gravestone. And although Ethan wanted to slink away he went quietly along. He and Sarah had gone with single headstones, side-by-side. Sarah was the one who had just died. Her grave was newly buried, her headstone newly placed and carved a few days before. Sarah had lived to be one-hundred and one.

The time-travelling Ethan and the future Erica both broke down at the side of that stone. It was only after a few minutes that Ethan realized Benny, with a snap of his fingers, had gently floated the sobbing Erica to the other side of the stone.

"No standing on Ethan's grave" Benny told Erica sternly.

With Erica clear of his headstone, the time-travelling Ethan dully read his epitaph. He had survived Rory's wife Natalie, but predeceased Mary. Aged 96. "Beloved Husband, Father, Grandfather and Great-Grandfather."

"It was a good life" said Ethan weakly, as he leant against his own marker. "Benny" Ethan added, addressing his invisible teenaged friend rather than the hundred-year-old man beside him, "I _really_ could have done without seeing my grave!"

Erica continued to sob over her BFF. In an old man's gesture, Benny gently patted Erica's hand. Ethan looked on dispirited. His mind still registered the oddness of it all, at least when looking at it from _his time_. If Benny had tried that with Erica in the present-day!

"We should have been BFF's for all time" Erica told Benny with a sigh, after she had finally stopped crying. "But she became mortal again and had a mortal life. And here she lies, beside _Ethan._ "

Ethan was angry. Did she ever give it up? Right beside his grave too! But Ethan wasn't half so angry as old man Benny. Benny lost it.

Benny was a powerful spell-master, that's for sure. With a gesture from his index finger, he pulled Erica up, straight as a ramrod.

"You don't understand, Benny" said Erica cooly, which must have difficult given her unnaturally rigid position. "I envy her. She made the right decision. Ethan was a real geek, but he grew to be a good and brave man."

The expression on old man Benny's face was something to behold. Benny let Erica fall down into a heap.

"I have gone through _fifty bucket lists_ of five hundred items each" said Erica, as she picked herself up and brushed off the snow. "The only reason I went to Ayer's Rock . . . again . . . is that the end of my last list included the geographic centre of the continents. That's what I was down to! And Ayer's Rock wasn't so far away from the geographic centre of Australia! Do you know _how boring_ the geographic centres of the continents are? Even today, they're just tourist information booths and fast food places stuck out in the wilderness."

"But what about eternal life and beauty?" asked Benny.

"Yeah! What about it?" asked the time-travelling Ethan, as incredulous as the centenarian Benny.

"Preserved in amber like one of the mosquitoes from _Jurassic Park_ " observed Erica wryly. "I don't want to live alone through the centuries. One century of hotness and glamour was enough. Even in _Dusk_ , an eternity of living ever-young, un-dead, was considered depressing. That is, when you're alone and surviving on the blood of others. Benny, I've made out my will and I have some great-grand-nieces and nephews who'll appreciate my money. Benny, I know what _you have had for the past fifty-years and how you use it_ on the vampires who cross you!"

"You're a little old" said Benny cryptically.

"I'm willing to take the risk to make my amends and die a mortal woman!" said Erica forcefully.

And as Ethan stared, the scene faded slowly to black.


	9. The Benny-Fractor

**The Benny-Fractor**

The time-travelling Ethan now found himself seated on an armchair by a coffee maker in a futuristic workshop. At first Ethan thought he was at the Team Sabre engineering and architectural firm, but the sight of so many of Benny's magical gizmos hanging on the walls made him change his mind.

Although Ethan was still nauseous, and cast down by the trip to the cemetery, he wandered about.

"So, I guess this is where we ultimately organized all our Team Sabre monster missions" Ethan said to himself.

The metal ceiling was at least fifteen-feet in height. Along the sides, there were a few windows, and a heavy metal door, but mostly there were machines hung up on ledges and neatly labelled as to what they did and what they were named. In looking around, Ethan noticed that in his old age, Benny had taken to naming a lot of things after himself. Who was Ethan kidding? Benny would have been naming things after himself since he was a teenager.

There was some sort of mammoth computer full of blinking lights in one corner. Ethan tried to use the monitor and screen-pad to hack into it, but it used an retinal scan in lieu of password.

"Ethan Morgan" said the machine. "Deceased Four Years. Imposter. Imposter. Alarm to sound in 5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . ."

Ethan instinctively jumped away.

The machine reverted to its plain state, just like the wedding cake at Ethan and Sarah's wedding. Ethan wondered _what exactly were_ the mechanics of his trip though the future.

Another corner, the corner where Ethan had landed, featured the coffee maker and several armchairs. Ethan considered trying some futuristic mint hot chocolate to calm his stomach (coffee would make him throw up, the way he was feeling), but the retinal scanner on the coffee maker denied him access.

"Cool" Ethan supposed. But why was Benny that cheap with his coffee? Or was this just a standard anti-theft thing in the future?

Looking out one of the few windows in the building, Ethan noticed he was in back of Benny's mansion. Well, that made sense. The Team Sabre engineering offices must have been for non-supernatural business only. Ethan and Sarah's split-level house was nice and all, but not the place where you'd put such a big shop. Rory's farm was probably too out-of-the-way; not to mention a little wacky.

In the middle of the room was a long boardroom table with a dozen chairs. There were what looked like several sheets of paper left on the table. On closer examination, Ethan discovered that the sheets of paper were really ultra-thin laptop computers. It would have been great to see how they worked. But they _also_ had retinal scanners.

"I don't believe it! The future's one step removed from a Cylon tyranny" Ethan complained.

The heavy door suddenly swung open. The bright florescent lights on the ceiling lit up.

"I'm telling you kids," old man Benny was saying, "we're one step removed from a Cylon tyranny. All these retinal scanners. Who would have thought that I'd ever miss boring no-tech keys?"

Old man Benny, now that he wasn't walking through the uneven grounds of the cemetery, had traded in his hovering chair for an old fashioned cane. Benny was accompanied by Erica and four teenagers.

"You know most AI's illegal, Grandad" said the teenage boy beside old man Benny. "Just for that reason. We don't want to be overthrown by our robots. So we make sure they can't do anything but follow simple commands. We _never program them_ to think for themselves."

"And they'll never have the power to use magic, Uncle Benny" observed a girl. "If they ever _do_ get out of hand, _you_ could destroy them with a couple waves of your arms. Or even Jack here could annihilate them. Though usually Jack can't get a spell right to save his life. Some spell-master."

Jack was the teenager who had called Benny grandad. And, to Ethan's amazement, Jack looked the image of Benny as a teenager. The teenage girl, about thirteen or fourteen, was also familiar. Very similar to Sarah. There was also a Rory, albeit one with black hair and a private school blazer.

And, yes, there was an Ethan, though he was redheaded and more strongly built than the original. The young "Ethan" was also whittling down (is was that what teenagers did in the future?) a stick of wood with a Swiss Army knife.

The teenagers had their eyes scanned and helped themselves to either coffee or hot chocolate as they preferred. Old man Benny had tea.

"So what do you think of the Team Sabre headquarters?" Jack asked Erica. "As the Jedi fought against the Sith, Team Sarah, Benny, Rory, and Ethan fought against any creatures who would prey on the innocent denizens of Whitechapel!"

"And now team Sandra, Jack, Rory III, and Luke continue the battle" said Rory III. "Well, when the older generation's too busy."

"I don't see why you're before me" said Ethan's lookalike Luke, still whittling. "The acronym doesn't work with our names. I shouldn't be last."

"I think you're right, Unc" Sandra (the young Sarah) told Luke.

"Don't call me Unc" retorted Luke. "I'm only one year older than you."

"But that's what you are. My uncle" said Sandra mischievously.

"She's Ethan and Sarah's oldest great-granddaughter, he's Ethan's and Sarah's youngest grandson" Benny explained to Erica.

The time-travelling Ethan stared at them, not knowing what to think. Ethan himself was barely sixteen! Ethan took a chair and tiredly watched the group. What was going to happen with Erica? Ethan was still _sort of_ curious; but how much more could he be expected to absorb? Over eighty years into the future? Great-grandchildren as old as Ethan himself? Even the artificial intelligence ban weighed on Ethan's mind. Ethan thought back to his mint condition toy robots in his room. _Star Wars'_ R2D2 and C3P0. The Cylons in _Battlestar Galactica_. Was Ethan happy or disappointed the world wouldn't be taking the chance?

The great-grandkids' joking discussion went on for awhile, until old man Benny called for a halt by rapping his cane on the floor. And rapping it on his grandson, when Jack didn't stop talking soon enough for Benny's liking.

"Now, I've decided to invite the next generation here to help us out" said Benny. "After all, these four will be taking the lead in our little charitable organization one of these days."

"Why them?" asked Erica.

"Sandra is a blackbelt in judo. Jack here is a spell-caster, and has the _potential_ to be as good as his grandad. Luke has Ethan's seeing ability. And Rory III here, well, he had a bit of bad luck a few months ago."

"Show her" said Jack.

Rory III groaned, and adjusted his collar. Ethan could clearly see the scar on his jugular. Vampire bite!

"I warned him not to date that girl" Luke observed, whittling. "If you can call her a girl. After we used the Benny-fractor on her, she wrinkled up and rotted away."

"Don't remind me" said Rory III, making a face.

"As you know, Erica" said Benny, "once a vampire is cured, he or she ages to their natural time of life. If they're too old to live by natural means, they die and decay as they would have had they lived a mortal life. One hundred and twenty is usually the cutoff date. But I guess we'll check."

"Naturally" said Erica.

Luke dropped his whittling, stepped forward, smiled at Erica, and gave an ironic bow.

"May I?" he asked.

Erica gave him her hand with a grin.

"You may, mortal" she said, imperiously but with a touch of humour.

Ethan watched his grandson (who was _as_ old or older than Ethan!) do the whole "seer thing." There was the eerie gleam in the his eyes, and the supernaturally dilated pupils.

"Do you want to know all I saw?" asked Luke laconically.

"Why would I be here if I didn't?" asked Erica.

"You'll survive to be a _very_ , _very_ old woman" said Luke. "You'll live about four years. You'll enjoy trying to do right during what's left of your life. Then you'll die peacefully in bed."

"Nobody could ask for more" said Erica. "Especially after a lifetime as an immortal . . . bloodsucker."

"It's irreversible, Erica" Benny noted.

"I don't want to reverse it, Benny" said Erica. "Let's just get this over with."

"You have your choice" said Benny, waving his hand over the table. "There is the Master Reversal Potion. When I was young, I would have bragged on how totally cool it was. Right now, I'll just say producing it is my _magnum opus_ as a spell master. It cures _everything_ magical and supernatural."

Several bottles of a phosphorescent blue liquid appeared on the table. The time-travelling Ethan remembered that potion from a vision he had the year before (or many years before, depending on how you looked at it). Sarah had hoped to use the potion to cure herself of the bloodsucker's curse. However, Sarah ultimately used the bottle to cure Ethan of being a werewolf; in his brief time as a canine Ethan had tried to eat both Benny and Rory.

"I was only able to find the instructions and make this twenty or so years ago" said Benny. "When my grandmother said I'd be a great spell-master, she wasn't kidding. These are worth their weight in platinum, even though they're not as good as they could be. You see, you need powdered unicorn horn and the only powdered unicorn horn I had was from that roundup eighty years ago."

"The reading week roundup" observed Erica, shaking her head.

"We used it on Rory III" observed Jack with amusement. "Would you believe he didn't realize he had been turned into a fledgling vampire, even with the hunger for blood and all, until he nearly burned himself to death trying to eat garlic bread? And even then, we still had to explain to him what was going on.

"It's not something that comes right to mind" said Rory III defensively. "I thought I was . . . losing it. Not losing my humanity. In any case, I don't recommend you use the potion if you don't have to, Erica. It tastes awful. And you'll keep the vampire bite scar once you're cured. The only reason I chose to take it was I had just seen the Benny-fractor reduce a smoking teenage girl into a yellowed skeleton amid a pool of rotten slime."

"That smoking teenage girl wanted to brainwash you into attack the rest of us" snapped Sandra. "Good vampires are few and far between. It's just the nature of the thing."

"That so-called teenage girl was just too old to live" said Benny simply. "It was the same with the lucifractor all those years ago. When it blew up, it drained the dark energy from town. I remember Esmeralda and Jesse aging, dying and rotting before my eyes . . . ."

The time-travelling Ethan would never forget either. He shuddered at the terrible memory.

"But the dark energy drain cured Rory and Sarah but good" Benny went on. "It even cured Erica until she chose to be bit all over again. Draining a vampire's dark energy starves the bloodsucking curse and leaves a bloodsucker human. After Erica left town for the last time, Ethan and me worked long and hard on getting a cure for vampirism. And after several years work; behold the Benny-fractor, a great benefactor in the fight against bloodsucking evil."

The Benny-fractor was a strange device. It looked like a glowing-turquoise crystal ball attached to a hand-held vacuum cleaner. There was also a very large battery pack on top.

The time-travelling Ethan casually wondered why, in the future, he hadn't insisted on calling the machine the Ethanator?

"But I guess" pondered Ethan, "Benny would have sold me on the "Benny-fractor" because of that stupid joke about it sounding like benefactor."

Erica was set, seated before the machine. Old man Benny pulled a switch, while Sandra, Luke and Jack paid rapt attention. Rory III looked away.

Ethan noticed that, even nearly a century into the future, the machine had the same side-effect on the hydro the exploding lucifractor had when it killed the dark energy from Whitechapel. The lights in the room dimmed and failed, leaving the group in shadow.

* * *

Time must have skipped forward once again. The next thing Ethan saw was Erica looking herself in a hand-held mirror. Old Man Benny and the teenagers were grouped about her.

Erica was, as Luke predicted, now an old, old woman of one hundred and one, with stringy white hair and a face depressed in many wrinkles.

Ethan wondered if Erica was going to scream. But she didn't.

"This is what I needed" she croaked. "Thank you, Benny. To live my last years in Whitechapel, in blessed old age."

"Let's talk about your plans" said Benny, courteously. "Will you join me and the kids here at the finest Italian restaurant in town? Why not live it up? They have some great garlic pasta."

"I'm sure I'll still hate garlic" insisted Erica feebly. "Especially at _my_ age. But the difference is, as Sarah used to say, is that I _can_ have it."

Sandra helped up Erica with a smile, and the party left the room.

"So that's what happens with Erica" shrugged Ethan, as a heavy white mist filled the room. "At least, she realized that being an un-dead creature of the night wasn't the way to go. I mean, in the very end."


	10. Too Much Information

**Too Much Information**

For a long time, Ethan seemed to be lost in the fog. When it at last cleared, Ethan was very happy. No, he was overjoyed. Ethan was back in his own living room. In the real world. In the present day. Finally!

Benny and Rory were worried about him. That was clear. Benny was again swinging his great-grandfather's watch an inch away from Ethan's nose. Rory was off by the TV set desperately trying to adjust the picture.

"I think Ethan's coming out of it" said Benny, "His eyes have gone back to normal."

Ethan grabbed the watch from Benny and put it down on the coffee table.

" _Ethan has_ come out of it, Benny" Ethan replied tersely.

Benny and Rory both gave a sigh of relief.

"The screen went blank a couple minutes ago" said Rory. "We weren't sure if the vision ended or if there was just a problem with the picture."

"The vision ended, guys" said Ethan, "And none too soon."

"Yeah" said Rory. "It was real gnarly to see our graves."

"It didn't make you change your mind . . . about anything?" Ethan asked.

"No, it didn't" said Benny, cheerfully answering for Rory. "Did it, man?"

"Look, Ethan" said Rory. "When you guys told me what I _had been_ the past two years, everything went crystal clear. No bloodsucking for the Ror-ster. Besides, it's a sweet life I saw. How much of it could I have done if I were stuck as a fourteen year old member of Team V? Sure, I was bummed out not to reach triple digits. You know, the big one - double zero. But ninety years old, that's awesome."

"Fame . . . as engineers, fortune, long life, girls" asked Benny. "What more could we want?"

"You even cure Erica . . . again . . . before she dies" said Ethan. "You're right, Benny, what more could we want?"

 _Free will was what they could want!_ And each of the three fell into a brown study while they considered the implications of what they had seen.

Benny _now_ realized his big mistake. It didn't matter how _awesome_ the future was. In seeing the future, Benny had the significant decisions of his life chiselled in stone before his very eyes! Well, Benny could always dodge the future he saw in his vision. Yes, and wipe Jack and his other children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren out of existence? Not to mention wealth and a certain amount of fame?

Benny wondered if he just wasn't thinking "fourth-dimensionally." The fourth dimension, of course, being the one of time. Benny's descendants didn't exist yet; so if Benny fouled up _Ethan's vision_ , it wouldn't hurt Jack and his other descendants because they didn't exist. But Benny, as good as he was in calculus, as much as he loved science fiction, found that this baffling "fourth dimensional" thinking hurt his head!

Benny was also sort of disappointed in the future. Benny liked the idea of exposing some of the evil stuff in Whitechapel on Youtube. But that didn't seem like it was going to happen. Did Future Benny think it was too risky? What, with Benny being a spell-master himself? Even though spell-masters were the good guys! Probably, for the same reason, Future Benny had ditched the idea of a full-time career in paranormal investigation. Again, it was confusing as Benny didn't feel the same way as Future Benny did on the subject.

Nor did Benny understand why Future Benny decided on structural engineering, other than he was great at math. Although Benny had to admit he liked the idea of designing major and _awesome_ buildings and bridges. Not to mention having his name marked on all of them as the project's engineer. But _why_? Did Ethan, Rory or Sarah pull him into it?

Most importantly, there was the question of Mary. Benny had pictured a future where gorgeous girls fought over him. Just like that time he had used the love potion, but without the near-lethal after-effects. And without his grandmother punishing him. But no, Benny would marry a sort-of plain girl who he'd save from a vampire. Benny didn't love Mary. He didn't even know her! Benny thought she was, well, plain. But he was going to be married to her for sixty years!

With a start, Benny realized he could find her. Too many innocent girls died at that _Dusk_ premier (and, of course, any was _too many_ ). But not _that_ many, thanks to him, Ethan and Sarah. There couldn't be more than one or two with a little sister named Mary. Benny sat on the Morgan family sofa, slumped and deep in thought.

Rory had watched much of the "spoilers" with one hand on the part of his neck where Erica had once bit it. Man, the Ror-ster could no longer stand seeing vampire bites or _near_ vampire bites! Nor did Rory like being reminded of having been along for the ride in Jesse's raid of the _Westdale Cinema_. What had he been thinking those first lousy days as a bloodsucker?

But the rest of Rory's life? It was great. Great job, great wife, great aeroplane, great house, great son and (at least one) great grandson. Too bad he now knew what was going to happen. And, more or less, when. The only thing that _might have been useful_ Rory didn't know the _when_ of; it would have been great to diagnose his wife's cancer the _very second_ it began.

Then there was the fact Rory III would unwittingly _also_ spend a day or two on sucky Team V. After Rory was dead. Maybe Rory could leave a message for his grandson warning him about that bloodsucking girl? Like Doc Brown left a message for Marty McFly in _Back to the Future Part II_? Or should Rory just leave it to the one hundred year old Benny? Rory didn't even know the vamp girl's name or when she'd strike!

Well, Rory figured he might do something about _another_ vamp girl. Rory would remember _not_ to invite Erica into his house. But suppose Erica just waited and bit Rory when he flying about in his biplane? Or when Rory was doing architectural stuff? Maybe Rory should ask the rest of Team Sabre to break their promise to Erica? But then what would happen to Rory's future? _Which he now mostly knew, start to end. No real big surprises left in life._ These thoughts depressed Rory. Rory slumped on the Morgan family sofa, miserable.

Ethan had _almost_ actually been in the future. But now Ethan was back, like the others he was looking at the rest of his life already set out before him. And his gravestone to boot! Did Ethan ever hate that! Was Ethan now going to work on fulfilling the future so plainly set before him? No detours? Should Ethan try to improve it? Was it worth the risk of fracking everything up? Ethan also slumped on the sofa.

But with a start, Ethan realized something else.

"Guys!" Ethan cried out. "You know each of us is already engaged? And we're only _sixteen_!"

" _Fifteen_ " groaned Benny and Rory. _Their_ birthdays were later in the year.

It wasn't yet the end of June. Not one of them had so much as finished Grade 10.

The three friends were so depressed, they didn't realize when Benny's grandmother let herself into the house. Not until she picked up Benny's great-grandfather's pocket watch from the coffee table.

"How many times, Benny" the old lady told her suddenly nervous grandson, "do I need to tell you not to touch things that don't belong to you?"

"It's not even magical, Grandma" Benny replied.

"Just because it's not magical doesn't mean it's not of any value" replied the old lady, using the watch to box Benny's ear. "Just like the fact that because something magical _can_ be done, doesn't mean it would be valuable to do it!"

While Benny rubbed his ear, Ethan asked "Did Sarah tell you?"

"Jane spilled the beans" Benny's grandmother replied, as she sat in a nearby chair. "Do you three realize you've risked spoiling your entire lives? Do you know how you've nearly reduced your lives . . . so wonderful, unpredictable and full of possibility . . . into something so troubled, boring and full of being second guessed?"

"We know now" sighed Ethan.

"Ror-ster, my man" Benny's grandmother went on, "how can you think of junking something you've only _just_ had returned to you?"

Rory slumped all the more.

"I talked them into it, Grandma" Benny admitted. "I wanted to see how cool our futures would be. Besides, Ethan already saw it in a vision. I figured there was no harm."

"There _is_ harm in seeing too much of the future" said his grandmother. "You know that now. The seer's gift, especially a very strong gift like Ethan's, is used to disclose the future for the _good_ of _everybody_ involved. Have you three considered why Ethan's vision disappeared so quickly from his mind?

"We though it may have been because I was supposed to forget" Ethan admitted. "All but the part about Benny, me, Sarah and Rory never being bloodsuckers; or never being bloodsuckers again."

"Right you were" said the old lady. "From what I've heard, you read Erica's future at a time when you were deeply troubled by the desperate promise you made to that poor, stupid girl. You're still young, Ethan. Your hold over your gift can be very little better than Benny's hold over his."

It was Benny's turn to slump all the more. Benny felt about an inch tall. If Benny's face wasn't beet red, he felt it should be.

"It was your mind's defence from being overpowered by your seer ability, Ethan" explained Benny's grandmother kindly. "A rescue from a vision brought on by emotional desperation. You forgot your vision because it was bad for you to see so much of your future before you."

"You know, I think I get it" said Ethan. "And in my best friend's defence, Benny planned to use his memory spell on the three of us. I mean, if it turned out we _did_ make a mistake in looking at that vision. And that's where we are now."

"I know" said Benny's grandmother. "The fact Benny had a plan to undo his damage prevents me from giving Benny the punishment he deserves . . . for misusing his spell-master abilities _yet again_. And potentially ruining your lives. That, and the fact I don't really have the heart to be too tough on Benny . . . _this time_."

"Why's that?" asked Benny hopefully.

"It was all I could do to stay home and avoid seeing how _awesome_ the future of my beloved grandson and his best friends would turn out to be" said the old lady with a pleasant smile. "It's very tempting, it wouldn't have been so harmful for _me_ to see _your_ future. But I couldn't be such a hypocrite and go myself and see what shouldn't yet be seen."

"Then I guess I'll work my memory spell" said Benny.

"No, you won't" Benny's grandmother replied earnestly. "Benny, your memory spell needs work. From what I hear, the one time you operated it you used it as a blunt instrument! When you cast a memory spell, you don't use it like a butcher knife creating a day or two of instant amnesia. You use it like a surgeon's scalpel, _carefully_ removing the memory in question! And casting a memory spell on yourself? That's a very different, and difficult, skill. I won't have you three boys blundering about with cases of magical amnesia. And me having to spend a week setting your brains to right!

"Okay" said Benny meekly.

"Now, are you three ready?" asked the old lady.

"Am I!" asked Ethan rhetorically.

"Yeah" said Benny, while Rory just nodded.

"Now, watch the watch!" said the old lady.

The three friends watched the watch.


	11. The Girl Next Door

**The Girl Next Door**

Benny's grandmother's favourite pizza toppings were anchovies, onions, green peppers and extra garlic. Nobody else save Benny and Rory were fond of this combination; even then it was far from Benny's preference. But given Benny's grandmother was paying (and she did have to pay, the pizza arrived within a half-hour!), nobody complained.

Jane was doubly happy. Not only did she get pizza, but she was able to stay up late to have her share of the extra-large snack.

"Did I say sorry enough?" Ethan asked Sarah jokingly, when they had finished their slices and were sitting on the sofa. " _How many times_ did I tell you that you were right?"

"Enough to think we have might have a good thing going" Sarah replied in kind. "And Ethan. When you have a girlfriend, it's usually okay to put your arm around her shoulders."

A skeptic might have found it unromantic, but Sarah loved the fact she had to remind the thoroughly geeky and decent Ethan that there wasn't a problem in putting his arm around his girlfriend's shoulders.

"Well, I've learned my lesson" said Benny. "And thanks guys, for offering to help me wash and wax Grandma's car tomorrow."

"It's the least we can do" said Ethan. "Especially since we're grateful for having the future erased from our minds."

"Yeah" said Rory. "You can count on the Ror-ster to wash down your roadster."

"A roadster is an open car with two seats, Rory" Benny said forcefully. "Basically, your two seat convertible."

"Really? I didn't know that" Rory answered. "Wouldn't it be great if the Ror-ster drove a Roadster? It's the _human_ way, the _real_ way, to speed down the road and through the wind. No, it would be better to have a plane! An old school aeroplane! The _human_ way to fly through the air and the wind! I can just see me now! Flying an awesome old school biplane. Just like the kind Air Marshal Billy Bishop flew during WWI . . . .

* * *

Ethan's parents returned home a short while later. Jane was sent to bed. Benny and his grandmother walked to their house, taking the short cut across the yard.

Ethan's father drove Rory home. Ethan's father remembered that Rory had once had such bad night vision that he was next to helpless without a flashlight or the light on his smart phone. Strangely, Rory hadn't been stumbling through the dark these past couple years. But now, Ethan asked his dad to again do Rory the favour of driving him home.

Funny, on the drive, Rory practically _bragged_ about his inability to see well in the dark! There was also the weird fact that Rory stunk strongly of garlic. It smelt as if the kid had been eating garlic all day. Well, Ethan's father figured, if anyone could stand stuffing themselves with garlic without a bad case of heartburn . . . it would be a teenage boy.

* * *

Ethan had a lot more fun walking Sarah home. The upshot of the evening had been that Ethan no longer wondered about the years ahead. He _knew_ that he was better off not knowing; he should take life as it came. Well, that wasn't exactly true. Ethan should be prepared for the future, in the way an ordinary high school student might be. Doing his homework, thinking about university, maybe even considering his career and perhaps saving some money. But Ethan's being prepared was different than viewing his future in advance.

If the future would be like the last month or so, it would be as awesome as Benny believed it would be. Ethan's friends were no longer so freaky; Sarah, Rory and even Erica had been brought back to normal by the destruction of the lucifractor. Benny's magic was all for the good; not to mention often really fun. Ethan felt confident that he could use his seer gift to help the people of Whitechapel _without_ having to live in supernatural weirdness day in and day out. That reminded him . . . .

"Have you ever noticed my eyes when I'm seeing things" Ethan asked Sarah, as they went up towards her house. "I mean, visions. I mean how the eyeballs are all glowing and the pupils dilated?"

"What about it?" asked Sarah.

"Does it, you know, freak you out?" asked Ethan.

"After all I've been through the last couple years?" laughed Sarah. "Get real. Okay, I prefer your eyes the way they are now. Deep and brown and, well, sincere. But really, I appreciate it when your eyes turn wonky. Your seeing is such a part of you."

"I don't think so" Ethan replied. "Not really. I'm still the same guy I was two years ago, before I started having these visions."

"It shows how brave you are, Ethan" said Sarah. "You're a geek, but you may be just about the bravest guy I've ever known. I realize that instead of fighting evil you'd rather be among your video games, your _Battlestar Galactica_ , your _Star Wars_ , your license plate and toy robot collections. But you choose to fight the good fight because you've been given this big gift. You _maintains le droit_. Like the Mounties, you maintain the right here in Whitechapel. And sometimes you even have a great time doing it!

"A lot of the fun comes from going through all with you" said Ethan, blushing a little as he stepped up on Sarah's front porch. "To me, you're the girl next door. With a heart that's pure. Nothing that's happened has ever changed that. I don't think anything ever will."

Ethan leant in to kiss Sarah, without hesitation and little of his usual gawkiness. Funny how just a few weeks practice made all the difference! Odd how Sarah called his eyes deep, brown and sincere, when that was just how Ethan would have described Sarah's! Strange how wrapping your arms around _your_ girl and giving her a long kiss was unlike anything Ethan had experienced before these past few weeks.

Frack! It was far too soon for Sarah's father to start blinking the porch lights! Ah well. Ethan had a car to help wash and polish in the morning.

 **The End**


End file.
